


Her Decision

by harlequinxgirl



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV), Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Bucky Barnes Feels, Bucky Barnes-centric, F/M, Kidnapped by Bucky Barnes, Kidnapping, On the run with Bucky Barnes
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-10-23
Updated: 2016-10-23
Packaged: 2018-08-24 04:07:46
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,497
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8356555
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/harlequinxgirl/pseuds/harlequinxgirl
Summary: It was a normal morning in downtown Pretoria. Cora Visser was just getting a coffee before starting work when she heard the squeal of tires followed by gun fire and screams and then a deep voice in her ear as she felt a needle prick her throat and fell into unconsciousness.





	

Awareness came to Cora slowly at first, and then all at once when memories of what had happened out on the street, before the darkness, crashed over her. Her heart spiked painfully and she drew in a shuddering breath.

“You’re awake,”

She jerked at the voice, coming from the other side of the dark room.

Another moment and the owner of the voice was beside her, she could feel them even in the darkness. 

She seemed to be on a bed and she drew back, pressing herself close to the cold wall at her back as a gloved hand reached out and clamped over her mouth, muffling the scream that threatened to erupt. She felt the bed shift as the owner of the hand climbed onto it with her, their weight pressing over her. 

“Do you remember what I said to you? On the street?”

_This is an extraction, but it needs to look real. I’m sorry…and then the stinging sensation of a needle to her throat._

“Do you remember?”

She nodded, trying to make out her attacker despite the darkness. 

“I’m going to remove my hand, don’t scream”

She nodded again and relief washed over her as the hand was pulled away and the person moved back off the bed. 

Her eyes were starting to adjust. The room wasn’t so dark after all. She could vaguely make out the shape of the man crouched beside the bed.

“What do you want?” She whispered, her voice raspy. 

“I told you, it was an extraction”

“I don’t understand”

He stared at her.

“I think you do Mrs Visser”

*** 12 hours earlier ***

Matteo’s side of the bed was empty and col by the time Cora woke. She was used to that, he often left early to get in some extra time at the office. He usually woke her though to let her know he was going.

She threw back the covers and winced at the heat that already hung thick in the air. 

Lula knocked on the bedroom door once before letting herself in, smiling at Cora when she found her awake.

“Hello missus, I brought your coffee”

“Thank you Lula, I might take it on the balcony”  
The home she and Matteo shared was intensely private, shielded behind high walls and acres of greenery that was rare in the city limits. Despite this privacy, the master bedroom’s balcony had views across Pretoria and she enjoyed sitting back there with her morning coffee.

Lula set the tray down, promising to return with some fresh pineapple.

Cora drank her coffee slowly and tried to relax back into her chair but there was something in the back of her mind that troubled her, as though there was something important she was forgetting. 

She dialed Matteo’s number and he answered on the third ring, his warm voice full of honey.

“You were sleeping so peacefully when I left,” he said and she smiled.

“You still should have woken me”

“Never”.

Something in the corner of her eye caught her attention, a movement or a flash of colour that seemed out place but was gone fleetingly. 

“Cora?”

“Yes, yes I’m here. I’m sorry Matteo, I have such a strange feeling this morning”

“Strange? How?”

She smiled at his immediate concern.

“I don’t know, it seems silly; I feel almost as if I’m being watched. You know that feeling of eyes on you?”

He clicked his tongue.

“What are you doing today? Do you go to the office?”

Cora rarely worked away from home, but at least two or three times a week she would spend several hours at the offices of a free legal firm in the city. 

“Yes, I was going to work from there today”

“Take Karl”

“Matteo I…”

“Please take Karl”

“Alright my darling, I’ll take Karl if you promise to take me out tonight”

He laughed and agreed, saying he would see her that night.

 

She showered quickly and dressed casually for the office in a pair of loose fitting blue jeans, a white blouse and a navy blazer, styling her hair in a pony tail so it wasn’t hanging around her shoulders in the heat. 

Matteo had obviously called Karl already because he knocked on the bedroom door less than thirty minutes later.

Karl was just one of their security contingent. He towered over her, his dark skin glistening in the morning sun as he informed her the car was waiting. 

He sat in front with the driver on their way into the city, casting glances around them in the traffic, He put her ill-at-ease, as most of their security staff did, with their constant vigilance. What must it be like, she often wondered, living in a constant state of expecting the worst. 

The office was located in the inner city and the car expelled them into swirling early morning commuter traffic. 

“I’m going to get a coffee before we go in,” she told Karl, and he settled into step behind her at a nearby cart.

She hard the squealing of tires first, then the crunch as a car hit one of the balustrades at the side of the road. Karl’s hand was already on the gun concealed at his hip when shots rang out behind them and Cora screamed as Karl fell to the ground. 

There were three of them, all dressed in black, with masks. The street was chaos; horns were blaring and people screamed as more gun shots rang out but a heavy hand had been clamped across her mouth.

In the distance, she noticed a group of high school students filming the events as she heard her attacked speak for the first time.

“This is an extraction, but it needs to look real. I’m sorry”

She felt a sting in her neck and looked down to see a needle being pulled away. She couldn’t fight whatever it was that was coursing through her veins with the adrenaline and felt herself slump back into her attacked as she was dragged into a nearby van.

*** present time ***

He turned a light on, illuminating the room. Apart from the bed that she had been laid out on there was a small sofa and a table with two chairs by a thickly curtained window, where he sat.

He was still dressed in the black tactical get up from the street and leaned back in his chair, staring through the crack between the curtain and the window frame. 

She struggled to sit up, noting not with small relief that she was still wearing the clothes she had been taken in. 

“Do you want money? Is this about Is this about Matteo? You’re trying to hurt him? He won’t negotiate with you. Not even for me”.  
He smiled thinly.

“I know what you’re doing,” he said, “probably exactly what you were taught to in the situation you were taken; deny and obfuscate.”

He turned to her and she was struck by the intense lightness of his eyes. 

She slowly shook her head.

“I don’t know what you think I’m involved in…”

“I _know _that you’re an informer, for SHIELD”__

__Her heart was hammering around in her chest like it was trapped and looking for a way out._ _

__“We have a mutual friend,” he said, “you sent them some information and they asked me to come and get you”_ _

__“I swear I don’t know anything of what you’re talking about. All I know of SHIELD is what you see on the television, I’m not a spy or an informer…”_ _

__“You can call me Barnes,” he said, cutting her off, as though this were a normal introduction._ _

__Could she trust him?_ _

__As if he knew where her thoughts had fled he leaned towards her._ _

__“You’re worried that perhaps I work for your husband. I can assure you I don’t. I’m not SHIELD either. I’m independent, just a friend of a friend”._ _

__The room was silent, but his eyes flicked back to the crack in the curtain as though he could hear something. Then he stood, crossing the small room in two strides, his hand on a gun she hadn’t noticed until just now. He raised his finger to his lips and she shrank into a tight ball against the wall._ _

__He reached out for the door handle, opening it just a crack before his shoulders visibly relaxed and he began to converse in low tones with whoever hadn’t had to knock to let him know they were there._ _

__She could only catch snippets, single words, some phrases; _scared, well prepared, took so long.__ _

__Finally the door opened wider and two more people shuffled into the room, the others from the street but without their masks now and she could have wept with joy as she recognized one of them._ _

__“Bobbi!” she cried, finally uncurling and flinging herself towards Agent Morse._ _

__"It's okay Cora, you're safe with us," Bobbie murmured as she hugged her, meeting James' eyes and hoping she was right._ _

**Author's Note:**

> So that was the first chapter. I'm sure there are a lot of unanswered questions. Please feed the writer with comments and any questions you might have!


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